Dún Laoghaire TD Richard Boyd Barrett has been selected as People Before Profit‘s parliamentary party leader and national spokesperson.
With rumours of a winter general election not going away, the Southside TD will be the face of the party during election season and will lead the party in the Dáil.
The party said that Boyd Barrett was selected in a bid to “improve our capacity to communicate with the public by providing an easily identifiable face with a principled record of fighting for working people.”
“His national profile will assist candidates in the coming general election by offering a familiar face to identify the party with,” they said.
People Before Profit doesn’t have a leader in the traditional party sense, instead opting for a “collective leadership” model, but for the purposes of the election, the party believes having one identifiable figure would be to the party’s benefit.
“He has been tasked with communicating the policies of the party in the media. He will be our spokesperson in leaders’ debates and leaders’ questions in Dáil debates. In general, he will go head to head with the Taoiseach, Simon Harris, in the Dáil,” a statement from the party read.
Boyd Barrett said “People Before Profit is unique in that we are a principled organisation where policy and our priorities are set collectively by all our members, and that is not changing. As we face an imminent general election, we want to put forward a radical and comprehensive alternative to change this country for working people. It is for this reason that we are appointing a national spokesperson to project this alternative at a national level”.
At present, the People Before Profit-Solidarity Dáil grouping has 5 TDs, with Dubliners Richard Boyd Barrett, Gino Kenny, Paul Murphy and Bríd Smith serving in the Dáil with Solidarity TD Mick Barry representing the party in Cork.
In June’s local elections, People Before Profit won four seats on South Dublin County Council, and two seats on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and Dublin City Council.
Solidarity won two seats on Fingal County Council.